There were quite a few problems on the offense of the Chicago Bears last season, denying them a playoff spot despite a 10-6 record. The most glaring deficiency was the offensive line, and bringing in Louis Vasquez from the San Diego Chargers is something the Bears need to pursue hard if they’re looking to make things work in 2013.

Before we already put Vasquez on the Bears, who have more than $10 million in cap space for next season even before some players get released or cut, there are some internal issues in the line that need to be worked in order to make it worthwhile, the addition of Vasquez. Their best player in the line last season was Lance Louis, but the rest of the guys weren’t too far away from disaster. If Vasquez arrives, it’s going to take some shuffling between the two in order to make things work.

The Bears’ strength was on the inside of the O-line, where Gabe Carimi, originally projected to be a right tackle, has done much better as a guard, moving there after Louis injured his knee. The Bears still aren’t sure what the future position of Carimi will be, as general manager Phil Emery remarked at the NFL combine that his future position is still being evaluated. Again, if Vasquez arrives, Carimi will not be playing in the middle, and they’ll probably try to re-instate him at right tackle again, while hoping to address the other side of the line through the draft, which is pretty rich in offensive tackles.

Regardless of how they move things internally, bringing in Vasquez should be one of their top priorities for next season. There aren’t that many quality guards becoming available this off-season, and while the Bears need to address more than just one thing, their achilles heel last season was the pass protection on Jay Cutler. If the Chargers fail to re-sign Vasquez, trying to bring him to Chicago is a must.